A weekly summary of news from the syndicated newspaper/web column, The Canadian Report, by Jim Fox.

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Monday, March 31, 2014

Report says Canadian customs agents often overlook charging duties and taxes at the U.S. border

Canada
column for Sunday, March 30/14

THE CANADIAN REPORT

(c) By
Jim Fox

Canadian
retailers are concerned that customs agents routinely waive taxes and duties on
goods brought back from the United States.

A
briefing note prepared for Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canada Border
Services Agency officers waive fees when the value of returning goods is “below
a certain threshold” not noted in the released document.

“This threshold was established in consideration of the cost to CBSA of
processing a traveler through the collection process,” it said.

“Collections
may also be waived in cases where the volume would result in unacceptable
border processing delays, when interdiction activities are under way or for
reasons determined by local management.”

The government document was in response to the Harper government’s
concern over the Canada-U.S. price-gap that helps to encourage cross-border
shopping

The Retail Council of Canada has complained the border agency is too
lenient with cross-border shoppers, costing the economy millions of dollars in
domestic sales.

More than 55-million trips are made by Canadians to the United States
annually with 33- million same-day crossings mainly to shop, with collected
taxes and duties of about $150 million.

Canadians have no duty-free exemption on same-day trips but can bring
back up to $200 in goods after 24 hours and $800 after 48 hours away.

---

Russian authorities have responded to Canadian sanctions over the events
in Ukraine by barring a group of lawmakers and officials from visiting.

The 13 Canadians included House of Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer and
government house leader Peter Van Loan.

This was in response to Canadian travel bans and economic sanctions
imposed on Russian officials.

On
a European trip, Prime Minister Harper reminded German leaders of the danger
posed by a leader who brazenly seized territory from a neighbor.

“As unfortunate as it sounds, it’s increasingly apparent to me that the
Cold War has never left (Russian Premier) Vladimir Putin’s mind,” Harper said.

---

News in brief:

-
Polls suggest the Liberals could win a majority government over separatist
concerns in Quebec’s April 7 provincial election. The Leger poll showed
40 percent of respondents support Philippe Couillard’s Liberals,
with 33 percent favoring the independence-minded former Parti Quebecois
government of Premier Pauline Marois. “We are a free people, we are a happy
people . . . and I see no reason to deprive Quebec of Canadian citizenship,”
Couillard said.

-
Cargo is again moving through the port at Vancouver after a deal was reached to
end a strike by container truck drivers. The dispute left hundreds of millions
of dollars in cargo stranded when 1,000 non-unionized drivers went on
strike in February and were joined by 250 unionized truckers on March 10.

---

Facts and figures:

Canada’s dollar has advanced to 90.32 cents U.S. while the U.S. dollar returns
$1.1071 in Canadian funds, before bank exchange fees.

The
Bank of Canada’s key interest rate is steady at 1 percent while the
prime-lending rate is 3 percent.

Stock
markets are lower, with the Toronto exchange index at 14,292 points and the TSX
Venture index 990 points.

The average price of a liter of gasoline across Canada is down slightly
at $1.3197 (Canadian).

-
Residents of Atlantic Canada are digging out again as a spring snowstorm dumped
up to two feet (60 centimeters) of snow. Power was cut to thousands of
customers after high winds pulled down lines across the Maritimes, with 16,000
Nova Scotians in the dark at one point. Snow also closed the Trans-Canada
Highway between Truro and Amherst for much of the day on Thursday.

-
A gaggle of geese and swans in Stratford, Ontario have to wait longer for their
spring to begin. The annual march through the city streets of the swans and
geese from their winter quarters to the still ice-clogged Avon River has been
put over by one week until April 13. The festivities “have been challenged this
year with unrelenting winter weather,” said Cathy Rehberg of the Stratford
Tourism Alliance.